Top Indian doubles player Sania Mirza won’t play in the Australian Open because she has injured her right knee.
Partnering Martina Hingis, Mirza won the 2016 Australian Open women's doubles, but will now be withdrawing from the event because she says her leg is agonizing.
"Basically I have something that's called a jumper's knee. I am okay to walk, but it's painful to change directions and play,” Mirza said on a conference call. “That's the biggest problem. So I can run straight but I can't actually do plyometric stuff on it. “
The 31-year-old Mirza has won 41 WTA doubles titles, including three Grand Slams and three mixed doubles. Though she reached the Top 30 in singles in 2007, she then stopped playing the singles in 2013, saying she was getting hurt all the time.
This season, she has played with several players, most recently Shuai Peng.
Now she is injured again, and will consult with doctors some more. “They told me to take a couple of months off, then see how it feels before getting into a process of either surgery or injections or whatever," said Mirza. "So when I saw them, the pain wasn't less after two months. So now we have to take a call whether we have to do a surgery or take a couple of injections. It's a little up in the air. I can't tell you a definitive when but it won't be before the next couple of months at least. Hopefully, I'll be healthy again.”
The former doubles No. 1 added that she would like to follow Roger Federer, who stopped playing in the second half of 2016 and came back and won the Australian Open.
“He went out for six months and has done exceedingly well…Hopefully, I will too,” Mirza said.
Mirza is No. 12 in the doubles rankings.